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blue · cool

#a1abcf

a light, soft blue · cool · closest name: Light Steel Blue

Token name suggestion: Meadow Sapphire

RGB
161, 171, 207
HSL
227°, 32%, 72%
CMYK
22, 17, 0, 19
Luminance
0.4121

#a1abcf is a light soft blue, 227° on the wheel and 88/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (9.24:1). As text it scores 2.27:1 on white — use #6172AE instead. Nearest name is Light Steel Blue, nearest Tailwind family is blue.

hsl(227 32% 72%)rgb(161 171 207)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #a1abcf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#a1abcf
Hue
227°
blue
Saturation
32%
soft
Lightness
72%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
68%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4121
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
88/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
9.24:1
Closest name
Light Steel Blue
ΔE2000 8.5
Chroma
19.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.746
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
blue
500 · ΔE 19.3
Web-safe
#9999CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue227° of 360°
Saturation32%
Lightness72%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #a1abcf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool88% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red18%
Green71%
Blue11%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#a1abcf
HEX (8-digit)#a1abcfff
RGBrgb(161, 171, 207)
RGBArgba(161, 171, 207, 1)
HSLhsl(227, 32%, 72%)
HSV / HSBhsv(227, 22%, 81%)
HWBhwb(227 63% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(22%, 17%, 0%, 19%)
LABlab(70.3 4.2 -19.4)
LCHlch(70.3 19.9 282.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.746 0.053 272.9)
XYZ (D65)xyz(40.52, 41.21, 64.84)
Decimal10595279
Display P3color(display-p3 0.631 0.671 0.812)
Web-safe#9999CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #a1abcf;
background-color: #a1abcf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #a1abcf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#a1abcf] bg-[#a1abcf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #a1abcf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.631, green: 0.671, blue: 0.812)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.631, green: 0.671, blue: 0.812, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#A1ABCF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFA1ABCF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFA1ABCF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(207, 171, 161)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(161, 171, 207)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(161, 171, 207)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 161, 171, 207)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.6314f, 0.6706f, 0.8118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{161,171,207}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #a1abcf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #a1abcf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#2B3454, #D6DBEA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #a1abcf h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F5F6F9;
  --brand-100: #ECEEF4;
  --brand-200: #D4D8E7;
  --brand-300: #B5BDD9;
  --brand-400: #a1abcf;
  --brand-500: #6A7AB3;
  --brand-600: #5364A2;
  --brand-700: #455387;
  --brand-800: #37436C;
  --brand-900: #2B334F;
  --brand-950: #1B2032;
  --brand: #a1abcf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F5F6FA;
  --brand-border: #C9CFE3;
  --brand-hover: #8A96C3;
  --brand-pressed: #7281B7;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141724;
    --brand-ink: #D6DBEA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5F6F9',
        100: '#ECEEF4',
        200: '#D4D8E7',
        300: '#B5BDD9',
        400: '#a1abcf',
        500: '#6A7AB3',
        600: '#5364A2',
        700: '#455387',
        800: '#37436C',
        900: '#2B334F',
        950: '#1B2032',
        DEFAULT: '#a1abcf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5F6F9,
  '100': #ECEEF4,
  '200': #D4D8E7,
  '300': #B5BDD9,
  '400': #a1abcf,
  '500': #6A7AB3,
  '600': #5364A2,
  '700': #455387,
  '800': #37436C,
  '900': #2B334F,
  '950': #1B2032,
);
$brand-base: #a1abcf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5F6F9", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#ECEEF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#D4D8E7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#B5BDD9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#a1abcf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#6A7AB3", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#5364A2", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#455387", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#37436C", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#2B334F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#1B2032", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #a1abcf · 9.24:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.27:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 9.24:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #a1abcf as text scores 2.27:1 on white and 9.24:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #2B3454 at 5.37:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#6172AE · 4.64:1
AA on white−19% L
#6172AE
The quick fox
#47568B · 7.07:1
AAA on white−31% L
#47568B
The quick fox
#a1abcf · 9.24:1
AA on blackalready passes
#a1abcf
The quick fox
#a1abcf · 9.24:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#a1abcf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #8693C1 is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#a1abcf on white: 2.27:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#a1abcf on black: 9.24:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #a1abcf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #a1abcf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.27:1AaAa
Slate 502.17:1AaAa
Slate 1002.07:1AaAa
Slate 2001.84:1AaAa
Slate 3001.53:1AaAa
Slate 4001.13:1AaAa
Slate 5002.09:1AaAa
Slate 6003.33:1AaAa
Slate 7004.56:1AaAa
Slate 8006.44:1AaAa
Slate 9007.86:1AaAa
Black9.24:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A1AED1
deuteranopia · #9DAACE
tritanopia · #96B2B7

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #a1abcf is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F5F6F9
#ECEEF4
#D4D8E7
#B5BDD9
#a1abcf
#6A7AB3
#5364A2
#455387
#37436C
#2B334F
#1B2032
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F5F6F9Darkest = 950 · #1B2032Text step on white = 600
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.013 272.9);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.021 272.9);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.032 272.9);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.041 272.9);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.049 272.9);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.053 272.9);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.053 272.9);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.050 272.9);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.045 272.9);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.037 272.9);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.029 272.9);
}

Colors that work with #a1abcf

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F5F6FA
Tinted page background
Border#C9CFE3
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4E5E98
Captions on the surface
Accent#8B6941
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#2B3454
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EEF0F6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141724
Dark-mode background
Hover#8A96C3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#7281B7
Two steps down
Disabled#EDEEF3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#A9B4DC
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #a1abcf

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • White text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #2B3454
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #8693C1

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

trustedcalmcompetentcorporate

The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight28/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#CFC5A1
Analogous left#A1C2CF
Analogous right#AEA1CF
Split-complement 1#CFAEA1
Split-complement 2#C2CFA1
Triadic 1#CFA1AB
Triadic 2#ABCFA1
Tetradic#CFA1C2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°227°

#a1abcf sits at 227°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red63.1%
Green67.1%
Blue81.2%
R · 0–255
161
0xa1
G · 0–255
171
0xab
B · 0–255
207
0xcf

CMYK percentages

Cyan22.2%
Magenta17.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 58%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#a1abcf text on a black background

contrast 9.24:1

Card sample

#a1abcf text on a white background

contrast 2.27:1

Card sample

#a1abcf on grey

2.07:1

#a1abcf on its own surface

2.10:1

#a1abcf on its dark surface

7.85:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #a1abcf;
Background color
Panel with #a1abcf background
background-color: #a1abcf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #a1abcf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(161, 171, 207, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(161, 171, 207, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #a1abcf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #a1abcf, #B6A1CF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a1abcf, #C1A1CF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #a1abcf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #a1abcf;
caret-color: #a1abcf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #a1abcf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EEF0F6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #a1abcf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#a1abcf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #a1abcf over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(161, 171, 207, 0.5)
rgb(161 171 207 / 50%)
#a1abcf80
hsl(227 32% 72% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #a1abcf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#a1abcf1a#F6F7FA
20%#a1abcf33#ECEEF5
40%#a1abcf66#D9DDEC
60%#a1abcf99#C7CDE2
80%#a1abcfcc#B4BCD9

Gradients from #a1abcf

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #CACFE4, #a1abcf 45%, #2B3454);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #a1abcf, #AB8DC5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #a1abcf, #CFC5A1);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DEE1EE 0%, #a1abcf 45%, #2B3454 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F5F6FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #C3DAE0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C3B5D9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #2B3454 0%, transparent 65%), #a1abcf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #a1abcf

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#a1abcf in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
TechnologyFinanceHealthcareEnterprise SaaS
Common UI roles
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 9.24:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#a1abcf, answered

What color is #a1abcf?

#a1abcf is a light soft blue, closest to Light Steel Blue (ΔE2000 8.5). It sits at 227° on the hue wheel with 32% saturation and 72% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #a1abcf?

rgb(161, 171, 207) — 161 red, 171 green and 207 blue out of 255, or 63.1% / 67.1% / 81.2% by channel.

What is #a1abcf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(227, 32%, 72%) and hsv(227, 22%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #a1abcf a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4121 and perceived brightness is 68%, so black text on it reaches 9.24:1.

Should I use black or white text on #a1abcf?

Black. It scores 9.24:1 against #a1abcf, versus 2.27:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #a1abcf accessible on a white background?

#a1abcf on white scores 2.27:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6172AE to reach 4.5:1, or #47568B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #a1abcf?

#CFC5A1 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CFAEA1 and #C2CFA1, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #a1abcf?

For interface work: #F5F6FA as the surface, #C9CFE3 for borders, #4E5E98 for secondary text, #8B6941 as an accent and #2B3454 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #A1C2CF and #AEA1CF stays calm, while #CFC5A1 is the loudest partner.

What is #a1abcf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(22%, 17%, 0%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #a1abcf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 88 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #A8A1CF; nudged cooler, #A0B4D0.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #a1abcf?

The blue family — its 500 step is #3b82f6, ΔE2000 19.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #a1abcf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #a1abcf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#a1abcf] or text-[#a1abcf], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #a1abcf with 50% opacity?

rgba(161, 171, 207, 0.5), or #a1abcf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #D0D5E7; over black, #515668.

Is #a1abcf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #9999CC, ΔE2000 6.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #a1abcf mean?

As a blue, it reads trusted, calm, competent. The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #a1abcf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #CACFE4, #a1abcf 45%, #2B3454). For more colour, a short hue run to #AB8DC5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #a1abcf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #a1abcf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.